The top driver distractions

**hagiber** · October 9th, 2004 08:50 PM

It's not newfangled cell phones that cause us to become so distracted while driving that we have a crash. Rather, it's old-fashioned rubbernecking that is our top driving distraction. Cell phones aren't even in the top five.

That's the word from a new study about the cause of traffic accidents conducted by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. More than 2,700 crash scenes and 4,500 drivers were studied in what may be the most comprehensive look ever at how a simple distraction can have such disastrous effects.

"We've known for years that drivers contribute more to causing crashes than the vehicle or the roadway," Robert J. Breitenbach, director of VCU's Transportation Safety Training Center, said in a news release announcing the study. "In many instances the driver error involves not paying attention to the driving task. We can now identify those distractions with some confidence."

The top 15 driving distractions are:

1. Rubbernecking (looking at a crash, vehicle, roadside incident, or traffic): 16 percent
2. Driver fatigue: 12 percent
3. Looking at scenery or landmarks: 10 percent
4. Passenger or child distraction: 9 percent
5. Adjusting radio or changing CD or tape: 7 percent
6. Cell phone: 5 percent
7. Eyes not on the road: 4.5 percent
8. Not paying attention, daydreaming: 4 percent
9. Eating or drinking: 4 percent
10. Adjusting vehicle controls: 4 percent
11. Weather conditions: 2 percent
12. Unknown: 2 percent
13. Insect, animal, or object entering or striking vehicle: 2 percent
14. Document, book, map, directions, or newspaper: 2 percent
15. Medical or emotional impairment: 2 percent

Fascinating facts:

* Fully 62 percent of the crashes involving driver distraction occurred in rural areas.
* Top distractions in rural areas were driver fatigue, insects, animals, and unrestrained pets.
* Top distractions in urban areas were rubbernecking, traffic, other vehicles, and cell phones.

Pay attention out there!

**boybi** · October 9th, 2004 09:11 PM

hindi nila sinama sa rubbernecking ang pagtingin sa babes

**GlennSter** · October 9th, 2004 09:24 PM

sayo lang applicable yun eh...bwehrehrherherh

**boybi** · October 9th, 2004 09:26 PM

Originally posted by GlennSter
sayo lang applicable yun eh...bwehrehrherherh

sayo ko nga nakuha yang habit na yan e :bwahaha:

**FerioEG9Boi** · October 9th, 2004 09:32 PM

sapl ako jan a.

**empy** · October 10th, 2004 05:48 AM

my #1: girls in low-cut blouses driving cars with untinted windows :D

**iqaruzz** · October 10th, 2004 06:24 AM

no#1 distraction.
babaeng naka bikini. laluna malapit lapit na ang summer.....hmm yum yumm

**niky** · October 10th, 2004 12:06 PM

#1: the worst habit of pinoys... kaya sobrang traffic... kahit overheat lang, parang big show sa mga drivers natin.

**boybi** · October 10th, 2004 12:11 PM

medyo OT:

bakit ang mga nasisiraan dito sa atin ayaw muna itabi sa shoulder bago i-repair or maghintay ng gagawa? kahit anong klaseng sira, basta't moving pa yung vehicle meron pa naman momentum para itabi sa shoulder pero sa gitna pa rin ng daan hinihinto.